Communications Industry

Telecommunications Utility Outage Reporting

Pursuant to Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) Substantive Rule, Section 26.51(e); each Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) is required to notify the Commission in writing as soon as reasonably possible after a service interruption has occurred for four hours or more affecting:

50% of the toll circuits serving an exchange;

50% of the extended area service circuits serving an exchange;

50% of a central office; and

20% or more of an exchange's access lines; or

Any component of the 9-1-1 system that results in an outage to the 9-1-1 service.

If the outage lasts more than 24 hours, the LEC shall provide a daily update to the Commission. Daily updates should be submitted via e-mail or by phone. After full restoration of the service, the LEC shall file a Summary Report of the service interruption in Project No. 37275 in Central Records.

LEC's should use judgment in reporting major outages lasting less than four hours.